NewEnergyNews: IRELAND BOOSTS OFFSHORE WIND/

NewEnergyNews

Gleanings from the web and the world, condensed for convenience, illustrated for enlightenment, arranged for impact...

The challenge now: To make every day Earth Day.

YESTERDAY

THINGS-TO-THINK-ABOUT WEDNESDAY, August 23:

  • TTTA Wednesday-ORIGINAL REPORTING: The IRA And The New Energy Boom
  • TTTA Wednesday-ORIGINAL REPORTING: The IRA And the EV Revolution
  • THE DAY BEFORE

  • Weekend Video: Coming Ocean Current Collapse Could Up Climate Crisis
  • Weekend Video: Impacts Of The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Current Collapse
  • Weekend Video: More Facts On The AMOC
  • THE DAY BEFORE THE DAY BEFORE

    WEEKEND VIDEOS, July 15-16:

  • Weekend Video: The Truth About China And The Climate Crisis
  • Weekend Video: Florida Insurance At The Climate Crisis Storm’s Eye
  • Weekend Video: The 9-1-1 On Rooftop Solar
  • THE DAY BEFORE THAT

    WEEKEND VIDEOS, July 8-9:

  • Weekend Video: Bill Nye Science Guy On The Climate Crisis
  • Weekend Video: The Changes Causing The Crisis
  • Weekend Video: A “Massive Global Solar Boom” Now
  • THE LAST DAY UP HERE

    WEEKEND VIDEOS, July 1-2:

  • The Global New Energy Boom Accelerates
  • Ukraine Faces The Climate Crisis While Fighting To Survive
  • Texas Heat And Politics Of Denial
  • --------------------------

    --------------------------

    Founding Editor Herman K. Trabish

    --------------------------

    --------------------------

    WEEKEND VIDEOS, June 17-18

  • Fixing The Power System
  • The Energy Storage Solution
  • New Energy Equity With Community Solar
  • Weekend Video: The Way Wind Can Help Win Wars
  • Weekend Video: New Support For Hydropower
  • Some details about NewEnergyNews and the man behind the curtain: Herman K. Trabish, Agua Dulce, CA., Doctor with my hands, Writer with my head, Student of New Energy and Human Experience with my heart

    email: herman@NewEnergyNews.net

    -------------------

    -------------------

      A tip of the NewEnergyNews cap to Phillip Garcia for crucial assistance in the design implementation of this site. Thanks, Phillip.

    -------------------

    Pay a visit to the HARRY BOYKOFF page at Basketball Reference, sponsored by NewEnergyNews and Oil In Their Blood.

  • ---------------
  • WEEKEND VIDEOS, August 24-26:
  • Happy One-Year Birthday, Inflation Reduction Act
  • The Virtual Power Plant Boom, Part 1
  • The Virtual Power Plant Boom, Part 2

    Thursday, February 14, 2008

    IRELAND BOOSTS OFFSHORE WIND

    While U.S. politicians complain that any requirement to develop New Energy would drive power prices up, European leaders embrace the costs to build a New Energy infrastructure. Their farsightedness perceives what shortsighted U.S. leaders can’t see: Energy prices are certainly going to get higher and there is nothing anybody can do to stop that. By putting a New Energy infrastructure in place, there is a chance to stabilize rising prices instead of letting the same thing happen that has happened to international oil prices.

    As a highly placed German government official recently confided to NewEnergyNews, Europe is laughing at the Bush administration’s defense of Old Energy and failure to plan for the future. Europe is struggling to put emissions control mechanisms in place and build wind, wave, solar and biofuel facilities and new transmission now but after 2010 or 2012 it will be enjoying the fruits of its sacrifice while the U.S. will be struggling with skyrocketing energy costs due to higher competition for reduced Old Energy supplies and higher costs associated with emissions-intensive energy.

    Fears of wind’s intermittency and lack of storage capacity are subsumed in Ireland’s plan to reproduce the Danish solution by connecting its huge offshore wind resource into the national grid. When the wind is blowing, the grid can consume the energy. When there is a calm, the grid can draw on other sources.


    The offshore wind power around the British Isles is awesome. (click to enlarge)

    Minister sets offshore wind energy prices
    8 February 2008 (RTE Business)
    and
    Support scheme for windpower
    Paul Anderson, 8 February 2008 (Irish Times)

    WHO
    Eamon Ryan, Minister for the Energy, Communications and Natural Resources, Ireland; National Offshore Wind Association of Ireland (NOW Ireland); Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA) (Michael Walsh, Chief Executive)

    WHAT
    Ireland will guarantee a minimum rate of 140 euros per megawatt-hour for offshore wind energy generation. Ireland is also planning new transmission to connect offshore wind energy to the national grid. These measures are expected to spark a 4 billion euro boom in offshore wind development.

    All of Europe is building offshore wind as fast as they can get the turbines (which are 1 to 2 years back-ordered). (click to enlarge)

    WHEN
    - Ireland’s goal is to produce 1/3 of its power from New Energy within 15 years. A recent study suggests it could actually get over 40% from New Energy by 2020.
    - The guarantee on the feed-in rate will run 15 years.

    WHERE
    - The offshore grid would be in the Irish Sea. It will be designed in the same way as similar transmission has been built for the North Sea and off Scotland’s coast.
    - Denmark gets 20% of its power from wind, including offshore wind, and uses the national grid to smooth out problems of intermittency.
    - The guaranteed rate compares favorably with the one Germany has used to spur offshore wind development.

    Offshore oil drilling is not any more difficult an engineering feat than standing up an offshore turbine. They are installing 5-megawatt producers now and designing 7.5-megawatt monsters.

    WHY
    - Ireland expects the new energy infrastructure to result in lower power rates for its consumers in the long run, if not in the immediate short run as well.
    - Ireland presently gets 6% of its power from wind but offshore capacity should be able to bring that up to 2000 megawatts, 1/3 of the nation’s electricity.

    No complaints about offshore wind spills so far. (click to enlarge)

    QUOTES
    - Ryan, Irish Energy Minister: "If we can connect and integrate wind farms from other jurisdictions, electricity will be produced wherever the wind is blowing…Ireland has one of the finest renewable energy resource potentials in the world…The support price is in line with what other countries are offering and without it we would not be able to attract any investment into Ireland. Now, investors can be confident when they invest in offshore wind."
    - Torben Anderson, spokesman, NOW Ireland: "The total investment in the initial phase of deployment could potentially reach €4 billion."
    - Michael Walsh, IWEA: "[It is] an important step on the road [to Ireland’s Neew Energy goals…IWEA is] looking forward to the delivery of the substantial network infrastructure that will be needed to allow growth of our renewable wind energy resource…"

    0 Comments:

    Post a Comment

    << Home